Day 18 | Holiness Application

Read Isaiah 6

What comes into your mind when you think about God? A.W. Tozer wrote years ago in his book “Knowledge of the Holy” that our answer to that question is the most important thing about us. He believed our concept of God most shaped our approach to God, our worship of God, and our life before God.

Having read Isaiah’s encounter with God in Isaiah 6, how closely does your concept of God align with what he described? It’s tempting to downplay Isaiah’s alarming experience and chalk it up to a more primitive depiction of God. But doing so stunts our grasp of who God truly is and who we are in relationship to Him.

When the seraphim declared, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies,” they emphasized that God is not confined to our expectations. In addition, God isn’t merely the most magnificent version of our best ideas of what He is like. He is wholly other, far above and beyond anything we might conceive on our own. Now buckle up! As God’s people, we are called to be holy in all our conduct as He is holy (Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:15–16). That’s a tall order! It’s no wonder Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me for I am ruined” when he was personally confronted with God’s holiness.

As with Isaiah, God must do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He alone can remove our iniquity; atone for our sins. Our holy God is our only hope. He tells us to boldly approach His throne of grace—as unnerving as it might be—confident that we will receive mercy and find grace to help us in times of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Be assured, we will become holy in our conduct only to the degree we are willing to immerse ourselves in the overwhelming but transformative holiness of our God. As you and I allow the holy Word and Holy Spirit to repeatedly wash over us, we will find that our thoughts, words, deeds, and relationships will increasingly display the true, holy nature of God.

Pray for 10 minutes